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I have been wanting to try a Thai style green papaya salad for a while now but I have never been able to find truly green, unripened, papayas. I tried picking up the greenest one that I could find but it was still too ripe and soft. I had all but given up when I was walking through the market I saw some really green mangoes and I remembered that there was a very similar Thai style green mango salad. I figured that even though these mangoes were fully bright green that they would still be soft and too ripe as well, but I picked them up and gave them a squeeze, they were rock solid and clearly unripe! I picked some up immediately and quickly tried to find all of the other ingredients that I thought I would need for the green mango salad.
The key to this salad is that the papaya or in this case mango, is used for its crisp texture and tart flavour rather than the soft and sweet ripened version. I kept the salad pretty simple and to the julienned mango I added a julienned carrot because it had a similar shape and crunchy texture and it would add some colour. I also added some bean sprouts for another colour and for the crisp juiciness that they would add to the salad. Of course there had to be a hot chili in there along with lots of fresh herbs. For the dressing I used some classic Thai ingredients: fish sauce, lime juice and some palm sugar to balance it all out. When I think of Thai cuisine peanuts always seem to come up and I thought that they would add a nice complementing texture.

The Thai green mango salad turned out great! It was so fresh and it had such a wonderful combination of flavours and textures. I really liked how each bite was crunchy and juicy and tart and sweet and sour and how every once in a while you would bite into a really hot pepper which overall balanced out with everything else. Despite the fact that I normally enjoy fully ripe, soft and sweet mangoes I quite liked the way the tart and crunchy unripened mango worked in this salad. While I was eating the salad I was thinking that you could easily turn it into a light meal by adding some shrimp or crab.

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comments:

Great recipe! I like that you added carrots, I'm sure their sweetness complemented the tartness of the green mango. It is hard to find these unripened fruits but still have them be eadible!My favourite Thai place (Satay on the Road) adds baby shrimp to their mango salad and, like you say, it's a full meal. I love it!

I live with in walking distance to Thai town. The BEST papaya salads! But they always look at me askance when I INSIST I want it Hot, Thai hot. It's the only way to eat it, but boy does it make my eyebrows sweat! GREG

This looks great! I've never thought of using green mango for this kind of salad, but I bet it's good. I like green mangoes too. You can also make this kind of salad with seeded cucumber instead of the papaya. Here in Laos,that's what people do when papayas aren't in season. It's funny that you have a hard time finding green papayas because here we have a hard time finding ripe ones! People eat them all up before they're ripe!

I have the same problem finding unripe papaya and mangoes here in MN. Even the Asian markets don't have them (or I don't go often enough to know when they do). This salad looks fantastic and makes me even more determined to find these fruits in their green state!

I have been on a crazy mango kick lately(including a late-night walk to local market for ripe mango, which I ate in its entirety standing over my sink)So nice to see a savory mango recipe that isn't salsa. Thanks for the inspiration!

Hi Kevin. There are two terrific fruit shops on the west side of Spadina, just north of Dundas that, from time to time, carry superb Vietnamese green mangoes (very expensive however) as well as the occasional green papaya.

If not in stock at these shops, try a West Indian grocery shop for green papaya. ;)

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I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.